Eternal challenge of major deals being with male orientated sports

Now in the midst of organising the Women’s Tour for the second year running, SweetSpot events have also found struggles when seeking sponsorship for a women’s event.

Director Guy Elliott explained that the primary hurdle for them last year was promoting a “first ever” with no historical success – but also that they had come up against “the eternal challenge of the majority of major sponsorship deals being with the male oriented sports of football, rugby union, Formula One etc.”

Sponsors who want to ‘change the world’ sought

Similar to the relationship between Matrix and their team, many sponsors of the Women’s Tour support the race to show that they are getting on board with women’s cycling – Guy said when looking for sponsors last year: “we were looking for companies who wanted to ‘change the world’.”

All-Star Line Up Announced for Friends Life Women’s Tour 2015

The race has secured sponsorship from Friends Life, Strava, Premier Inn, Chain Reaction Cycles and Costa Express – and Elliott said: “We believe our message about striving for the equality of women in sport – not just cycling – and the wider social agenda about the fair treatment of women in society makes a big difference.”

The ‘Tour Village’ for the race has lots of attractions to motivate young women and families to get active, and he added: “We try to get across a light-hearted message but with a deep moral agenda behind it.”

Once sponsors are in, it seems – they receive benefits that make them want to stay. Elliot said: “Friends Life not only confirmed their ongoing sponsorship for The Women’s Tour but were so pleased with what they got from it that they went onto sign a long-term sponsorship agreement for both the Women’s Tour and men’s Tour of Britain.”

He added: “They were blown away with the enthusiasm they saw on the race with the large crowds and TV viewing figures that we could never have expected in our wildest dreams with approximately half a million people watching the race every day for the entire five days and over three quarters of a million views on our website.”

We’re looking forward to seeing the pro teams performing in some amazing races next year – check out these 8 most exciting women’s cycling races in 2015.